Perez lucky to escape with concussion and thigh sprain after horror crash Monaco

Mexican rookie Sergio Perez was taken to hospital after a 175mph accident in final qualifying reminded a global audience of the peril of driving Formula One cars on the unforgiving streets of Monte Carlo.

Perez crashed on the exit of the tunnel running parallel to the Mediterranean, a black spot on a circuit where Britons Jenson Button and David Coulthard and Austrian Karl Wendlinger have experienced similar high-speed accidents in the past.

His car was wrecked on hitting the crash barrier before he was carried as a passenger into a second, massive side-on impact with another barrier separating the track from an escape road.

1. Sergio Perez smashes into a barrier side-on at 175mph after losing control of his Sauber late in the qualifying session for Sunday's race

2. The Mexican's Sauber loses a front wheel after it hits the Armco at a black spot on the circuit where other
drivers have experienced high-speed accidents

3. Perez's car skids down the track towards the chicane

4. It takes medics almost 20 minutes to remove the 21-year-old from his car before he is lifted on to an ambulance and transferred to hospital

The accident came two minutes 26
seconds from the end of qualifying for today's race but the clock was
stopped as cautious medics took almost 20 minutes to remove Perez from
his Sauber car before the 21-year-old from Guadalajara, appearing at his
sixth grand prix weekend, was transferred by ambulance to the Princess
Grace Hospital.

Doctors reported last night he had
suffered concussion and a sprained thigh but while scans showed he was
otherwise unhurt, he will not take part in this afternoon's Monaco Grand
Prix.

'It's a wake-up call,' said world
champion Sebastian Vettel. 'Some people say Formula One is too safe, too
easy these days, but you see this and realise that's untrue.'

Perez was the second driver to
thunder into the Armco barrier on the exit of the tunnel yesterday, as
Nico Rosberg had driven his Mercedes into it during the free practice
session before qualifying. Unlike Perez, Rosberg's car narrowly missed
the second barrier and he walked unaided from his car.

This afternoon, Vettel, after
claiming his first pole on these streets for Red Bull, will share the
front row of the grid with Button as the most glamorous motor race in
the world goes ahead in front of an expected 80,000 crowd on streets
normally governed by a 30mph speed limit.

Yet the drivers are not oblivious to the danger - most notably at the place where Perez came to grief.

Wrecked: Perez's car is hoisted from a truck

Button said last night: 'We all love
racing here, the history and the tradition, but this is an area that we
need to find a solution for. Motor racing is dangerous - we all know and
accept.

'Our thoughts are with Sergio but
we'll go racing tomorrow, of course. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't
try to make improvements for the future.

'The cars have been dramatically
improved since Wendlinger's accident [in 1994] and the mid-road barrier
has been moved back since I went in there in 2003. Yet for years, when
you hit the brakes as you come out of the tunnel, the rear of your car
goes very light, which has been even more of an issue this year for
reasons I don't understand.

'I think it would be good if they could smooth out that area, especially a specific bump in the tunnel.

Carnage: The mangled wreck is removed from the track

Button, who will start second on the
grid in his McLaren, spent the night in hospital after his accident in
qualifying eight years ago and was not permitted to drive the next day.

'I know how hard Sergio hit that
barrier and it hurts,' he said. 'Once you've had the first impact, and
the wheels come off, you are in a highspeed sled.'

After Rosberg's crash, race director
Charlie Whiting ordered the speed bumps in the middle of the chicane
after the tunnel to be removed. Mark Webber said: 'If they had still
been there Sergio could have had an even nastier accident as his car
could have been sent into the air.

'Bigger priorities take over your
mind than qualifying when you see one of your mates have an accident
like that. We can learn from this in terms of safety.'

Wheel gone kid: There isn't much left of Perez's sauber but a mass of twisted metal

Coulthard, who hit the same barrier
three years ago, was commenting for BBC TV when Perez crashed. 'Fate
took me down the escape road, so I didn't have the second impact like
him,' he said.

Wendlinger, coincidentally also
driving for a Sauber, spent weeks in a coma after his accident 17 years
ago, which happened at the first Formula One race after Ayrton Senna and
Roland Ratzenberger were killed over the San Marino Grand Prix weekend
in Imola. Formula One has not suffered a fatality since that weekend
provoked a raft of new safety measures.

Red Bull team principal Christian
Horner said: 'When you see an accident like Sergio had, the main concern
is his well-being. It sounds like the initial signs are positive, which
is a testimony to the strength of the cars and safety standards.'

Lucky escape: Perez before the terrible accident on the Monaco street circuit

Fernando Alonso, a twice world champion, admitted the minutes waiting in his Ferrari for Perez to be extracted from his car caused his stomach to churn. 'Frightening accidents like this do make for a bit of tension,' said the Spaniard.

The track was closed for 38 minutes, then only Lewis Hamilton improved on his time to put his McLaren seventh on the grid from eighth, only to be relegated to ninth for missing out a chicane.

When the lights go out at lunchtime today, the racing on this narrow, bumpy street circuit will be no less ferocious than normal. But the drivers retired last night aware Perez had enjoyed a lucky escape.